Card and the like for sequence sorting



July141942. .f-N'Evlgy v2,289,380 x CARD ANDY'THE'VL'IKE FonEQUENCE'SORTING v "Q f 'M1921 Agg. 3Q. l959'f' l i -F|G.1 i 'f ya v "//4'f A'f4 v5 oooooovodb oocaocacoooc?` -GX 4 2 l 4 2. I 4 2 l 4 2 l 4 2. l4 2 l 4 2 C oa 08 B. @a o a o8 y Mel-mms uunnnu'nlnu anions. Tucuman."mmm Ms mura' Pme/h www a) 129 a Flam O O i yOO- G O 2 a gaz? Ys; 899 82?)Q85 el gaz Patented July 14, 1942 CARD AND THE LIKE Foa SEQUENCEsoR'rING Donald A. Nevin, Athens, Ohio, assignor to The McBee Company,Athens, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 30, 1939, SerialNo. 292,561

4 Claims. (Cl. 129 16.1)

The present invention relates to cards or other bodiesv of sheetmaterial intended for sorting purposes, and particularly those adaptedfor sequence sorting.

Perforated, notched and otherwise lmutilated sheets and cards have beenknown in the art for years and have enjoyed a Widespread use forsorting, separating and classifying statistics, accounts and records ofall kinds. The classification limits to which a perforated card or sheet-is restricted, depends greatly upon the Working area of such card orsheet available for the reception of perforations or notches.

In accordance with the United States Letters Patent to Perkins No.1,544,172, dated June 30, 1925, `a card and system were first disclosedwhereby sequence sorting could be accomplished simply and quickly,without the need for expensive and complex machines. In this Perkinspatent, .ten perforations were provided for each digit of theclassification proposed.

A later patent to Perkins, United States Letters Patent No. 1,739,087,dated December 10, 1929, proposed certain improvements over the earlierpatent, whereby with a card or sheet of given length or width, a greaternumber of digits or separate classifications could be represented; Thiswas accomplished by providing a double row of staggered perforationscapable of being notched to an edge of the card or sheet. Because of thestaggered arrangement, certain notches were made appreciably wider thanothers, and the result `while valuable, is subject to certaindisadvantages.

One of the disadvantages pertains to construction of mechanical meansfor notching the card to the edge. Those skilled in the art willrecognize the fact that design of the various types of notching-punchingmachines would involve complex and dimcult constructions and that suchmachines would be costly to build and expensive to maintain. This wouldmaterially limit general adoption and use of the card described in thislater Perkins patent.

It is the object ofthe presentl invention to overcome the faults andlimitations inherent to the prior art, and to improve upon thearrangements proposed by the already successful Perkins patents.

In accordance with the present invention, a card or other body oil-sheetmaterial is provided along one or more oi' its edges with an outer rowof perforations relating to a particular. classification in paralleladjacency to the edge or edges,

an inner row of perforationsv relating to the same classification as dothose in the outer row, in parallel adjacency to the outer row. Theperforations in both rows are preferably similar in size and'shape, andthey are arranged so that the perforations in the inner row or rows arealigned with perforations in the outer row or rows respectively, in adirection perpendicular to the adjacent edge of the body. By virtue ofthis arrangement, perforations of the outer row alone, or alignedperforations of both rows may be notched to their respective adjacentedges, thereby forming aV pattern of notches relating to a singleclassification.

The perforations are preferably grouped so as to include'in each group,three perforations in the outer row, and a fewer number, say one or two,in the inner row. Hence, for some representations, a groupmay beprovided with only a shallow notch or notches extending from the outerrow to the adjacent edge; for other representations, a group may receiveonly a deep notch or notches so that perforations of both rows arebrought into communication and opened to the adjacent edge; and finally,a group may receive notches of both shallow and deep types for stillother representations.

Whereas the notches utilized are preferably somewhat divergent at theedge of the card or' body, at no point is the notch wide enough to openmore than a single perforation of a single row to the edge. Of course,by making the notch deeper, a perforation in each row may be slotted sothat they communicate with one another and open upon the edge. Hence,for practical purposes, and except for the slight divergency at theedge, the notches formed, whether they be deep or shallow, are ofsubstantially equal width.

My means of accomplishing the foregoing .objects may be more readilyunderstood by refer- 'ence to the accompanying drawing which is hereuntoannexed and forms a part of this specilication, in which:

Fig. 1 is an illustration of my invention, having two rows of codedperforations adjacent the edge of the card and divided into groups byprinted lines;

Figs. 2 to 10 are fragmentary views of a card showing successiverepresentation of such card after it has been notched to indicate thenumbers "1 to 9, only one group in each view being so depicted; and

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view of 'a card showing a modincation in whichan additional number or letter may be added to the code in each groupwithout adding to the length of the card. Similar reference numeralsrefer to similar parts throughout the entire specification.

Referring to Fig, 1 of the drawing, a card or other body l of paper,cardboard, or the like is provided with an outer row of perforations 2in parallel adjacency to an edge of the body, and an inner row ofperforations 3 in parallel adjacency to the outer row. It will be notedthat the perforations in the two rows have been shown as similar in sizeand shape, although some variation may be made without departing fromthe present invention. It is important in accordance with the presentdiscovery however that the perforations 3 in the inner row-be alignedwith perforations in the outer row in a direction perpendicular to theadjacent edge of the body.

The perforations 2 and 3 inthe two rows have been depicted asdivided-into groups, by means of lines 4 extending perpendicular to therows of perforations and a line 5 running parallel to the rows. In theembodiment shown in Fig. 1, the arrangement of the groups ofperforations adapts the sheet to sequence sorting, classifying orseparating in accordance with values ranging from 1 to 10,000,000, aswill be observed from the indicia printed upon the sheet. The beveledcorner 6 providing on the sheet facilitates arranging the cards withtheir corresponding faces and edges in the same direction.

The two rows of perforations may be confined to a single edge of thesheet or card as shown, or they may be applied to any additional numberof edges if so desired, thereby increasing the range of a singleclassification, or permitting the addition of other classifications.

Referring to Figs. 2 to 10, the notching as applied to one group ofperforations, illustrates the manner in which the numerals 1 to "9 arerepresented. In Fig. 2, a single notch to a perforation of the outer rowmarked 1 represents the numeral 1. In Fig. 3, a notch to a perforationof the outer row marked "2 represents numeral 2. The numeral 3 isrepresented in Fig. 4, by notching two perforations Vof the outer rowmarked "1, and 2. Similarly, the notching in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 depictsnumerals "4, 5, 6 and "7 respectively. In the figures thus fardescribed, only shallow notches have been used.

The numeral 8 (or other numeric codes might be assigned in each digit.Also the perforations might be identified by other indicia, l. e.,letters, names or symbols) is represented by the deep notch in Fig. 9which extends from a perforation in the inner row, through a perforationin the outer row, to the edge of the body.

The numeral 9 is represented in Fig. 10 by a shallow notch and a deepnotch, combining notches like those of Figs. 2 and 9.

In Fig. 1l 'a modification is shown wherein the plates no notch or slotwide enough to interconnect two perforations of a single row, thenotches whether deep or shallow, are for all practical purposes,substantially equal in width, despite the slight flare or divergencyformed immediately adjacent the edge.

Having described my invention, what I regard jacent the first row, therebeing fewer perforainner row of each group is provided with twoperforations, each aligned with a perforation in the outer row in adirection perpendicular to the adjacent edge.

In view of the fact that the notching utilized in accordance with thepresent invention contemtions inthe second row than the first row, eachof the perforations of the second row being aligned with each third holeof the first row, in a direction perpendicular to the edge, saidperforations being so disposed as to form groups of four only, eachgroup comprising only three perforations in the first said row and onlyone perforation in the second row.

2. A sheet for classification purposes having a row of perforationsclosely adjacent an edge thereof, a second row of perforations closelyadjacent the first said row, there being fewer perforations in thesecond row than the first row, all of the perforations in the second rowbeing aligned with perforations in the first row in a. directionperpendicular to said edge, said perforations being disposed in groupsof four only, each of said groups comprising only three perforations inthe first said row an d only one perforation in said second row.

3. A sheet for classification purposes having a row of perforationsclosely adjacent one edge thereof, a second row of perforations closelyadjacent the first row, there being fewer perforations in the second rowthan the first row, each of the perforations of the second row beingaligned with each third hole of the first row, in a directionperpendicular to the edge, said perforations being so disposed as toform groups of four only, each group comprising only three perforationsin the first said row and only one perforation in the second row, theperforations of each group considered collectively being unsymmetricallyarranged and only two of the perforations being adapted to be connectedby a slot extending from the edge of said sheet` 4. A sheet forclassification purposes having a row of perforations closely adjacent anedge thereof, a second row of perforations closely adjacent the firstrow, there being fewer perforations in the second row than the firstrow, all of the perforations in the second row being aligned withperforations in the first row in a. direction perpendicular to saidedge, said perforations being disposed in groups of four only, each ofsaid groups comprising only three perforations in the first said row andonly one perforation in the said second row, the sheet adjacent theperforations of each group of three in the outer row running from rightto left bearing numerical indicia one, two and four respectively, thesheet adjacent the perforations in the second row bearing the numericalindicia eight.

DONALD A. NEVlN.

